Интервью с разработчиком-одиночкой!

1. Hi! My name is Denis Volkov, or simply Denis if you'd like to. What is your name? Could you tell a little about yourself?
Hey Denis. I'm Daniel Kim aka "DanK." I was in the game industry for a year before working alone on my own game. Before that I spent most of my life making short films like this one.

2. According to the FAQ page, you are the sole developer. Is it difficult to deal with all aspects of the project alone?
It can get awfully lonely! And there's a hard limit to what kind of game I can make since I must execute everything. I have to ask myself how much time I'm willing to spend on any given feature before I lose patience and cut back based on that. I knew I could cover graphics and design without a problem. The only aspect I was concerned with was programming. With the help of a powerful Unity plugin called Playmaker, I was able to learn how to implement logic in my game in a matter of months. If you can do art, design, sound, and code, you don't need anyone else.

3. What inspired you to create this game?
I was quite unhappy in the game industry because I felt restricted from reaching my full potential. After speaking to many people who worked in all of the biggest and most prestigious studios, I knew that things would be the same anywhere I go. So I knew indie game development was a good fit.

As for why I wanted to make Deadweight specifically, I felt frustrated by the shift in mainstream FPS's to become heavily scripted linear experiences that didn't allow players to creatively solve problems. So I wanted to make an FPS in which you're put in a room, given a handful of tools, and let loose to figure it out on your own.

4. There's not that much content shown in the trailer, but you have already stated that there'll be more. Can you get into details a little more?
Other than that there will be more of everything, some of the brand new stuff I'm putting in is an economy and upgrade system as well as locations that look completely different from the concrete interior found in the trailer.

5. What would be the key features of the gameplay?
The general feeling I want players to get is the exhilaration of beating overwhelming odds not through brute force but by outsmarting enemies in addition to traditional FPS brutality. All that in bite-sized 5-20 minute play sessions for those that don't have hundreds of hours to invest in games.

6. If I understand the story correctly, we'll enter the battle between humanity and machines. The topic is somewhat of a cliché, but still quite promising... So, can you tell us about your vision of it?.
Actually, in Deadweight humanity has already been wiped out by the machines. Then they put the last human and his clones into combat arenas for their amusement. This is not unlike how Rome used slaves from their conquests as gladiators. That may appear quite dark from the outset, but my approach is slightly whimsical and comical. I mean, a giant robot just watching you fight because he's entertained by it is a little funny.

7. What about other platforms? Sure, for one-man team it would be hard to produce a console ports, but what about mobile? Arena-style games are definitely in demand.
I haven't even thought of it, but I'm not ruling it out.

8. On the Greenlight page we can see that people from several countries are interested in the project. So, are localizations planned? If so, which ones?
I've had to visit Google Translate many times to understand some of the comments. Interestingly, Russian seemed to be the most common. There are no plans for localization at the moment. We'll see how much energy I have left near release because I've heard it's not a walk in the park.

Additional questions from the editors:

1. How do you see the future of indie developers and indie games?
While we may see superficial changes as to what types of indie games are prevalent in any given year (pixel art platformer, narrative walking simulators, Youtube bait, etc.), indie developers will always live and die by the quality of their output, not the genre they choose. It's tempting to think that a game like Sunset failed financially because people aren't interested in art games. Or could it be poor design, writing, and pacing? Hmm.

2. Could you give some tips for beginning developers? Getting a game into Steam is a great goal and achievement for most of them out there, so some word of advice would be good!
Whoa, it's strange to be asked for advice. I feel like I'm just getting started myself. Releasing the final game and seeing how well it sells will be the real test, and perhaps then I'll be in a better position to offer advice. But for now I will say be relentless in your pursuit of quality and try and look at your game from the perspective of your audience.